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About Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1907)
LIVE STOCK NOTES. Items of Value For the Stoeltmn to Remember. Fit your stock for market before of fering It for sale. A nicely finished animal often sells for a good profit when a poorly finished one would sell at a Jos. Teach the colt good manners, says the Fanners Advocate. It is far easier to teach them to lead and drive while they are small than after they are ; grown. All the stock lots ought to be fenced j pig tight and the pigs allowed the I freedom of th?m. Tigs penned closely j do not thrive like those that have plen ty of ran;:e. j The demand for mules grows greater j each year. If vour hogs are mangy try dipping ; them in crude oil or one of the coal tar preparations. Burn old bedding and disinfect old quarters. Stamp out the mange by active, effective treatment. It is better to start with a small flock of common sheep than to start with a pure bred flock and abuse it, for high bred stock must have care to make a success of it. If yon permit sows with pigs of dif ferent ages to run together the larger pigs will rob the smaller ones. If your sows must share the same pens ar range to have the pigs come at about the same time. The horse that refuses to eat when feed is put before him is ailing and should not be worked. If he Is well he will eat readily. The breeding, feeding and general care of the heifer are Important points. Train up tlie calf in the way she should go. and when she becomes a cow she will not depart from it. A wooden floor in the barn to be practicable should have sufficient slope to carry off all moisture and enough circulation underneath to keep dry. Bear this In mind in purchasing a horse: If he has uny defects, physical or otherwise, t!isy will not likely grow less. Ever try cleaning out the old hay and the dust that accumulate In the horses' mangers? How would you like to eat meal after meal from the same plate without its having been washed? Not very well, eh? That is what you compel your horse to do when you fall to clean out his manger. Wood ashes is a good correction to keep at the disposal of the swine. De pend upon it, they will not eat more of it than their system demands. Salt is another article that should be freely supplied. Corn and water for hog feed Is cheap in price, but a dear feed after all when gains are counted. I When you see a hog literally stand ing on his head rooting in the dirt in his pen you can depend on it that hia system demands something that you have not supplied him with. When hogs get the rooting habit their ledger balance is sure to be found on the wrong side of the page. j Dehorning- Cattle. We dehorn nearly all of our cattle, writes an Iowa breeder In the Rural New Yorker. We dehorn our year lings in the fall or spring. The fall, as soon as the flies leave, is a good time, or about the 1st of March. The horns should be cut off before the flies come. Cattle can be dehorned at any age. It is better to cut the horns off when they are young. It pays well to de horn cattle. They feed a great deal better, there are no bosses among them then, and it does not take near the room for them. Tou can put twenty head in a barn loose where you could not put half that many with horns on. Tlioy ship by the carload so much bet ter. They sell to shippers from 5 to 10 cents more than cattle with their horns on. If you have a cow or steer that Is Inclined to be cross just cut its horns off and it stops the trouble. It takes less corn to feed cattle with their horns off than with their horns on. FRESH AIR IN HOUSES. Poaltrr Heed Cool ftaarten, tJt Should Hot Sleep la the Ones. There la a vast difference between using well ventilated or open front fresh air houses and permitting birds to roost out in the open, says P. T. Woods in Reliable Poultry Journal. Fresh air is essential to life and health. It Is one of the best things that we have, but even our best pos sessions may be abused, and it Is sometimes possible to have too much of a good thing. While roosting out of doors in the trees may be productive of no harm during summer weather and early autumn, we firmly believe that much harm may result by per mitting them to continue to occupy these airy perches after the severe, changeable late fall and winter weath er sets in. Birds kept under such con ditions could not be expected to give satisfactory returns in either eggs or fertility. With an open front house they have all the advantages of the pure air obtained by sleeping In the open and none of the disadvantages. They are well protected by the tight roof overhead and the snug back and sides of their roosting quarters. The cold, chilling winds cannot reach them, and storms cannot injure them. Of the many types of fresh air poul try houses the following rank as the best examples of satisfactory buildings for breeding and laying stock: The Maine experiment station curtain front poultry house, the Tolman 8 by 14 colony fresh air poultry house, the J. H. Robinson pattern of cheap poultry house, with wide doors which open the entire front, and Dr. Brieault's convertible poultry house, possess ing a two part door In the front of each pen, the upper half of which may be made to give place to a burlap or muslin screen. Nearly all closed poul try houses may be adapted to the fresh air plan by simply substituting a screen of heavy unbleached muslin for the upper half of one window in the south front of each pen, provided the house possesses sufficient depth to per mit the birds to roost In the rear por tion without being exposed to direct drafts. Preparing Birda For Exhibition. Washing white birds is one of the greatest accomplishments of an ex hibitor, and few there be that possess the accomplishment, says Farm Poul try. The few that do possess this se cret have an advantage at the start that is hard to overcome. The most successful exhibitors of white birds wash In three waters a very warm water with lots of suds made with soap or soap bark in a great majority of cases; a second tub which contains water which has had the chill taken off and is perfectly clean (this forms the first rinse); the third tub forms the second rinse and Is perfectly cold. This is generally the final rinse, but all the soap must be got out or the feathers will curl. The drying room must be kept close to 90 degrees F. The birds are gen erally allowed to dry overnight. They are then gradually accustomed to the normal temperature. Some of the best washers give repeated washings. Ammonia is often used In small quan tities In the washing water. THE SWINEHERD Change the feeding ground occasion ally. It will be better for the hogs and for the pasture. Nail slats across the trough to keep the hogs out of their drinking water. Keep the old sows as long as they produce good litters and are good mothers. A good Doghouse means good hog business. Clean, disinfected yards help keep the cholera away. Build the hoghouse so it can be used every day ia the year. Throw the hard coal ashes in the hog yard. The pigs like them. It takes more corn to put a scrub on the market than a good pig. Save your breeders from the sows that are the best mothers. The hoghouse should be on a well drained spot dry, well ventilated, light, warm and durable. Keep a close watch of your hogs, and doVt let infection spread. These two things will do much to check cholera. Kimball's Dairy Farmer. At Weanlna- Time. At weaning time there is not so much dauger of losing the pigs as of check ing their growth. The pig is not yet I hog, and he can hardly subsist as the bog does. A good deal of nourishment in liquid form is needed and also under tender grass.. It does not take much grain, but they like a bit pf oats, wheat or corn. Their teeth cannot handle much that is hard; hence softening it by soaking will be beneficial. Sweet milk and middlings warmed with Tiot water will appeal to their appetites at weaning time, and It need not be mads as strong as when fed later. It is gen erally known, says Western Life, that our milk should not be siren. Mark the Turkeys. One should mark their turkeys for future Identification. The leg band bearing your Initials or number can be readily placed on the shanks of young turkeys about the time they begin to wander far from home, says Feather. Some mark . their turkeys by clipping the toe nails or one or more toes or dif ferent toes. Many different brands of markings can be made use of "by this means. The toe punch may be used and Identification marks stamped trough the toes. Some use a rubber stamp and indelible Ink to brand the wing feathers. This cannot be de pended upon. A needle and indelible Ink may be used to prick an indelible ink mark in to the web of the flesh and skin at the union of the pinion with the second Joint of the wing. This can be done and the mark never obliterated. Hon to Kill Fowls. The best method of killing a fowl is by seizing it by the feet with the left hand and by the head with the right and then stretching its neck with a jerk to the utmost extent and at the same time bending its head back ward, so as to dislocate It neck and sever the spinal cord. A fowl may be killed by holding it In the left hand with its head hanging down ward and then striking it a hard blow on the back of the head with a heavy stick, like a ruler, or it may be killed quickly by chopping off Its head. It may also be killed quickly by twisting the neck until it is dislocated and the spinal cord severed. An Excellent Plan. In my opinion, it would be better for a farmer with a flock of 300 to 400 to put his pullets in one flock and hens for breeders in another, saving the best laying pullets for the next year, and buy his males of a fancier or breeder that is, in breeding for egg production and market fowls instead of havias j small pens and trying to breed hit own cockerels, says a fancier in Eehabie t Poultry Journal. He could buy of the same man each year and so be in one strain. Use at Spray Pomp. No one should attempt to keep poul-. try in a good healthy condition without' a spraying apparatus for throwing in secticides into the nest boxes, crevices and about the roosting places In the henhouse. The use of one of these makes it possible to reach every hid den spot and saves a wonderful amount of material used for destroy ing the vermin. PORTABLE HOG HOUSES. Am Easy Matter to Pat Them In a New Location. A handy portable hog house in use at the Montana experiment station is described in Orange Judd Farmer as follows: These houses have been in use for more than two months, and the idea is such a practical one nnd the outlay so small that we give our exact plan for building. It might be stated right here that the material for the roof, ends and 5 ' FIG. I PLATFORM FOB HOG HOUSE. floor of the hog house was ordinary 1 by 5 tongued and grooved flooring, which cost us at the rate of $23 per thousand. The other material used was the ordinary 2 by 4 scantling, which cost $15 per thousand. First make a platform 6 by 6 feet, with four 2 by 4 pieces supporting it and running the entire length as skids. The plat form will appear as In Fig. 1. Next a 2 by 4 is supported four and a half feet above the center of the platform, with Its long way running the same direction as the 2 by 4 skids supporting the floor. Now begin to nail the boards that are to make the slanting roof to the edge of the plat form and also to the 2 by 4 supported above the floor. It will not be long before the slanting roof boards will FH1. II IN COURSE OF BUHiDINO. support the 2 by 4 at the 'top, and the false supports may be knocked out. The hog house partly built may be seen in Fig. 2. After the roof is nailed on completely then come the ends of the house. We first fit in pieces of 2 by 4 under the roof and resting on the floor. One of these may be seen in Fig. 2. The bottoms of these are toe nailed to the floor and the tops nailed securely down through the roof. To these 2 by 4"s the end Doards are nailed. The ends of the house should be so inserted that the roof projects an inch or so beyond, to prevent the rain leaking through in wet weather. In one of the ends the door is made. A swinging door, as in Fig. 3,' is fitted to the opening, and the hinges, which are at the top, are simply loops of wire. This wire runs through holes bored above the door and also through two holes through the top of the door, the idea being to have the door swing either in or out, according to the will of the hog. Two round openings are placed, one in either end of the house, near the 1 " vV V , WW Flfl. m A MOVABLE 8TBCCTURE. . Will accommodate from two to six hogs, according to size. peak of the roof. These ventilating holes are about six inches across and are controlled by swinging blocks, fas tened sufficiently stiff so as to stay wherever turned. The hog house com plete, showing swinging door and ven tilator hole, will appear as in Fig. 3. Now, if an armful of straw be placed Inside of one of the houses, we have a snug, comfortable and warm winter house. With these Individual houses It Is a very easy matter, with the use of a horse, to draw the house to an entirely new, clean and dry location. Farm Brevities. Anybody who can drive a team can spread manure with a spreader. It's easy to put off the short jobs till another day, but it never pays. Down in Alabama they get the best returns by sowing their oats in No vember. Keep the water from lodging in the road. That's the secret of the road drag. Dont throw away the wood ashes. They are valuable for the lawn, garden or orchard. Put the manure upon the ground as fast as it accumulates. You may have some trouble doing this during the coldest weather, but most of the year it can be done with a spreader.' COW HORN TURNIP. Seem Tsod With Benefit For Chamsrlna- Soil Textnre. Much has been said of the cow horn turnip as a soil Improver, or, rather, ameliorator, as It Is supposed to benefit more by changing the soil texture than by bringing in new fer tilizing material, like clover and other legumes. It will grow in unproduc tive clay soils and bores deep Into the ground, opening up by Its decay In winter the deeper compact layers and adding a most appreciable amount of humus. The seeds are commonly sown with crimson clover In August or Sep tember in corn or on fields that might otherwise remain bare through winter. It has been used in this manner with perceptible benefit on Hope farm and in thousands of other trials through out the country. A Handy Plant. In bringing a newly purchased addi tion into cultivation we concluded to use this handy plant. The plot was deeply plowed in June, after the ever green nursery that had occupied it many years had been removed, and twice harrowed at intervals of a fort night to kill sprouting weeds and drag off the numerous roots. A portion was planted with late table corn, fertilizing with hen manure In the hill. Crimson clover and cow horn turnips at the rate of four ounces turnip to fifteen pounds clover seed were sown on the remainder Aug. 10, working it in with an ordinary cultivator. Mixed Seeds. Mixed seeds were later sown in the same proportion at the last working of the corn in September. We tried to sow the clover at the rate of fifteen pounds to the acre and secured a thick stand for soil in such poor condition. There was abundance of rain, enabling the clover to smother the turnips al most completely In the early sowing, but in the corn there was a good stand, entirely covering the clover In many places. Rural New Yorker. Kansas Hoar Wallows. Farmers In the Kansas oil fields re port great results from a novel use of crude oil. For lice on hogs they find the costly, dipping tank unnecessary. The ordinary hog wallow is better. A thin layer of crude oil is poured over the water in the wallow. The hog3 do the rest. Every louse, tick, flea and other pests is destroyed. "The hogs are said to learn very soon to skim the oil. and swallow it, to their great ad vantage. If the water dries up, the oil rests on the bottom of the wallow until the next rain, when it rises to the top and is 'ready for business as before. . For the chickens the interior of the henhouse is painted all over, including the floor, with crude oil. Two applica tions a year are reported to be suffi cient to insure immunity from all para sites. Crude oil Is cheap. A barrel of it should be kept and used on every farm. The small enemies of stock cause great discomfort to the animals and reduce the profits of the owners. Ditches on Uneven Land. It often happens that a farm is more or less cut up by ravines or depres sions which intersect or separate fields and the supply ditches have to be ex tended across these low places. This Is usually done In one of three ways. When the depression is not more than a few feet deep levees are built on each side. In other cases flumes are built on grade from side to side, and lastly the water may be carried across in a pipe laid In the form of an invert ed siphon. The earth levee is the cheapest, but It is subject to leaks and washouts for the first few years. The wooden flume answers the purpose fairly well, but it Is subject to early decay, and the clay or cement pipe laid beneath the surface, although dearer at first cost, is really the cheapest in the end. . , Control of Weeds. The margin of supply ditches on most irrigated farms is the breeding ground of weeds. The seeds of these fall Into the water and are widely scat tered by the irrigation stream. The banks of ditches should be graded and smoothed so that the weeds which grow along the sides can be readily cut and burned. A rapid growing forage crop like alfalfa also tends to keep down the weeds and may be sown along the banks for this purpose. Watering; Fowls In Winter."' It is difficult to supply fresh water to poultry when the weather is severe ly cold, as the water freezes and can not be used. Earthenware fountains are often broken by expansion during freezing, and the only convenient meth od of providing; water is with, the .aid of wooden troughs, which cn be scald- ed and kept clean, with .easgj. TcravoidJ holSino "rtiE- gate ea through It plan of watering' their '"fowls three To Hold a Gate Open. The illustration shows a very handy method which I Invented to hold a swing gate open any width. Most gates are hung so they swing upward a little in opening, to clear snow, grass, etc. They swing shut of their own accord; hence some thing to hold the gate open at any place while driving through or letting out stock Is a ne cessity. To meet this need I devised the brace shown herewith. It is simply a piece of wood 1 by 2 inches and a lit tle longer than half the height of the gate. One end is fastened by a spike pass- sS&sgR8BJK2jaiIp!i' open; - and driven into the .edge of the vertical board at the times aday, using tepid water, and'the j end of 'the' gate.'or if 'may be put on birds soon become accustomed to the: with-abIngeT"" The dotted lines show practice. Immediately after the hens, its position when not In use. It being have finished drinking the troughs are ' swung upward and snapped beneath a emptied, placed on end out of the way j spring nailed to the top of the gate, and used only when the next watering says a writer In American Agricultnr- of the flock occurs. I 1st. "LI A Serial Story Entitled NCO LN'S E Af FAIRS" Scon be Published En the Gazette This entrancing story was written by WARD HILL LAM0N Lincoln's Law Partner Mr. Lamon was the author of "Lin coln's ioyStcod," a serial published lci the Oazette a year ago . . . "Lincoln's Love Affairs" affords a vivid insight of the life and beautiful womanly attributes of Miss Ann Kut ledge, the object of Lincoln's first great affection, and unhappy mental condition on her death. His short courtship of Miss Mary Owens creates intense in terest and is historically correct. Final Courtship and Marriage of ISS MARY TODD Lincoln's early experiences as a law maker and other interesting incidents in the life of thei great emancipator. SUBSCRIBE fOR THE GAZETTE NOW Published twice a week for $1.50 per annum, in advance. This Story Alone Is Worth the Price OUR JOB PRINTING Facilities are the Best
